Burner wick structure and operating mechanism



April 4, 1950 w. B. ENGH ETAL BURNER WICK STRUCTURE AND OPERATING MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Dec. 21, 1945 II/EEN TO 25. WHLTEE B, NGH. C'OETLA ND W DAV/5. 5 (1241),;

P/lTf/V April 4, 1950 w. B. ENGH ET AL BURNER WICK STRUCTURE AND OPERATING MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Dec. 21, 1945 Patented Apr. 4, 1950 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE BURNER WICK STRUCTURE AND OPERATING MECHANISM Walter B. Engh, Alexandria, and Cortland W. Davis, Summitville, llnd assignors to Aladdin Industries, Incorporated, a=corporation-of Illinois Claims.

This is a divisional application of application Serial No. 772,608 filed September 8, 1947, the latter being a divisional application of parent application Serial N10.-636,537 filed December 21, 1945. Said parent application discloses an improved stove structure adapted to space heating, also :an improved'hurner structure for effectively burning heavyliqui'd fuel such as kerosene and the like and adapted toserve as a source of heat forsaid .stove structure, and also an improved tubular wick structure and operating mechanism therefor adapted to efiiciently operate in said burner structure. By the said divisions of the disclosed subject matter referred to, the claims of said parent application are limited to said stove structure and the parts required to 'eifectively operate it,,theclaims of said application Serial No. 772,608 are limited to said burner structure and; the partsrequired to secure its effective operation, and the claims of the present application-are limited to said wick structure and operatingmechanism and the parts required to secure'their effective operation.

The stove structure of said parent application- Serial No. 636,537 includes a tubular casing of sheet metal which is in a vertical position When'i-n use, which casing is mounted above a '7 parts, "the lower part being supported .by the fuel reservoir provided with a'burner of the tubular wick type for effectively burning the liquid fuel used. The casing is preferably connected with the reservoir by means of a horizontal pivot or hinge, at one edge of the lower end of the casing, so that. the casing may be moved to a horizontal position to clean the burner and wick and to facilitate lighting the stove. This position-of the'casingpalso facilitates replacement of the wick when necessary.

.The burner construction of divisional application Serial No. 772,608 is provided with a central airpassage extending vertically through the fuel reservoir -.to supply the. inner air to the vaporized fuel, that is required for the burning of the fuel,

and a burner cone is provided for directing outer airagainst the vaporized fuel arising from the wick, with suflicient. velocity and in proper amount to penetrate and mix with the vaporized fuel andsupply the'air required in conjunction with the-inner air, to completely burnall of the carbonaceous matter in the liquid fuel, so that the flame produced by the burner will .not be a yellow flame indicating the presence of unburned carbonaceous matter, but will, on the other hand, be a :purplev or bluish flame showingv complete combustion as far as theacarbonaceous matter is concerned. The burner cone is in two mainxstructure of the burner and having an inher opening above the wick which is much too large for purposes-of proper combustion. This lower .cone portion permits access to the wick for cleaning and lighting purposes in .a manner that vis not ,possible where the burner cone isin a single ;piece. Ihe burner cone also includes an upper part carriedby the stove casing which constitutes the chimney of the burner, so that when the casing is in a vertical position for use, the upper part of .the burner cone rests uponthe lower part thereof to complete the cone and provide an inner-opening above the wick having a diameterof the size required to properlysupply outerlair to the vaporized fuel with a velocity to penetrate the vaporized fuel and mix therewith and toatthesame time provide the proper quantity of outer air inconjunction with the inner airsupplied to the vaporized fuel, to completely burn thecarbonaceous matter in the liquid fuel. Said burner construction provides means for eliminating undesirable odors and effects, including anv annular passageway for auxiliary air,

. secured to the upper burner cone portion in a horizontal plane, near said upper burner 'cone portion, which passageway includes an annular member provided with. a central aperture somewhat larger in diameter than the diameter of the opening .in the upper burner cone portion, said passageway being in free communication at itsouter edge with :the surrounding atmosphere, so that the z-actionof the stove casing as a chimney wilLdraw; secondary air through said passage- Way, determined amount by the vertical extentof said passageway, said secondary air being delivered around the annularfl-ame and in such close. proximity to the flame that-the inner portion-of the resulting annular column of said secondary-or auxiliary air commingles with the outermost portion of the annular flame. sult of this construction and operation is that the ifumesand thestill combustible gaseous products resulting from the burning of the .fuel, are completely surrounded: by said column of auxiliary air and cannot escape-into the interior of the stove casing without passingthrough the auxiliary air which is highly heated by the action of the-flame, which produces the burning of said fumesaand said :still combustible gaseous products, so that disagreeable odors and noxious effectsare eliminated from the gases discharged to the atmosphere.

The effective operation .of the burner for the purposes set forth, requires proper wick adjust-v The rement, which is insured by the particular wick and wick operating mechanism employed as a part of the burner construction, and constituting the subject matter claimed in present application. The tubular wick is provided, below its burning portion, with a thin sheet metal tubular carrier which is rigidly secured to the wick, said carrier having secured thereto a rack bar extending angularly and also axially of the carrier tube, the rack bar having a helical conformation and disposition when mounted on the tubular carrier. The outer wick tube of the burner is enlarged around the wick operating mechanism and supports internally a spur gear meshing with the rack bar, said spur gear being substantially in a vertical plane and being rigidly secured to the inner end of a short horizontal shaft extending radially through the outer wick tube and rigidly carrying at its outer end an operating handle or disc. The outer wick tube has projecting inwardly therefrom suitable guide members to hold the rack bar in mesh with the spur gear. In this manner the raising and lowering of the wick is eifected by both an angular movement and an axial movement, which operating arrangement is found to be much more effective and accurate than where it is attempted to operate the wick by axial movement only. To limit the movement of the wick, a stop is provided on the lower end of the rack bar, to prevent moving the wick upwardly relatively to the burner beyond a desired extent, for example, the lower part of the rack bar may be suitably enlarged to prevent further relative movement between the rack bar and the spur gear. To prevent downward movement of the wick substantially below the position required to extinguish the flame, and low enough so that the wick might drop into the reservoir, the outer wick tube is provided with a lower stop member in the path of a lug carried by the carrier tube of the wick, so that when the wick is moved downwardly until the lug engages the stop member, further downward movement of the wick is prevented. This takes care of the requirements for operating the wick and the burner in place on the reservoir, and to facilitate renewing the wick, a construction of lower stop member is provided, such that it does not function as a stop member when the burner is removed from the reservoir, or in other words, with the burner removed from the reservoir, the wick may be moved downwardly relatively to the burner, until it is entirely free from the burner and drops out, which greatly facilitates the operation of renewing the wick. To accomplish this result, the lower stop member is mounted on a spring band secured to and extending partly around the inner surface of the outer wick tube, and said stop member is provided with an outwardly extending cam for engagement with the opening in the top of the reservoir made to receive the burner. The parts are so arranged that when the burner is removed from the reservoir, the spring action of the spring band moves the stop member outwardly from the path of movement of the stop lug carried by the carrier tube of the wick, and when the burner is placed in operating position on the reservoir, the cam referred to presses the lower stop member inwardly against the spring action of the spring band and into the path of said stop lug, to limit downward movement of the wick. In this manner the burner construction is made highly effective for operation to accurately secure the best results, without introducing any objectionable features in connection with its operation.

The heating stove described constitutes an illustrative use of the described burner which may be effectively used for other purposes, and. the burner described constitutes an illustrative use of the wick operating mechanism and wick construction of the present application which may be effectively used with other constructions of burners.

The invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings showing a preferred embodiment thereof, in which:

Fig. l is a vertical, central, sectional view through a burner and wick in accordance with the invention,

Fig. 2 is a horizontal, sectional view of the burner and wick taken along the line 2-2 in Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a horizontal, sectional view of a part of the structure shown in Fig. 1, taken along the line 33 in Fig. 1, with the burner removed from the reservoir,

Fig. 4 shows in a view similar to Fig. 1 and to an enlarged scale, the position of the stop mechanism for the wick when the burner is removed from the reservoir, this view being taken along the line Q4 in Fig. 3,

Fig. 5 shows in a view similar to Fig. 4, the stopmechanism for the wick in the position given it' by mounting the burner on the reservoir, and

Fig. 6 shows in side elevation and to an enlarged scale, with most of the outer wick tube removed, the wick and the parts carried thereby, as well as the stop for limiting downward movement of the wick.

Similar numerals refer to throughout the several views.

As shown in Fig. 1, the wick 9 is provided with a carrier tube '29 of thin sheet metal which is secured to said wick, and said tube has rigidly secured thereto a rack bar 39 extending circumferentially and axially of said tube so that the rack bar has a helical formation, said rack bar meshing with a spur gear 31 substantially in a vertical plane and secured to the inner end of a short shaft 32 supported in horizontal and radial position by the outer wick tube 19, and having the operating handle or disc 28 rigidly secured to its outer end. Suitable guide pins or members 32a extend inwardly from the outer wick tube, to engage the rack bar 3! and holdit in mesh with the spur gear 3| (see Figs. 4, 5 and 6). When the burner is mounted on the reservoir 2, an outwardly extending flange 33 rests upon the reservoir and has bayonet joint engagement with said reservoir as shown in Fig. 2, to

hold the burner in place, at which time a spring stop member 34 is held inwardly by a cam member 35 engaging the opening in the top of the reservoir 2, so that said stop member is in the path of a lug 36 carried by the carrier tube 29, to limit downward movement of the wick 9 by operation of the handle 28. This condition of the wick is more clearly illustrated in Fig. 5, and when the burner is removed from the reservoir 2, the

spring action of the stop member 34 moves said stop member from the path of the lug 36 as shown in Fig. 4, so that the wick may move freely downwardly until it is entirely released from the burner.

As shown in Fig. 3, the spring stop 34 comprises a strip of spring metal carrying at its free end and projecting through and outside of i the tube Hi, the cam member 35, said stop member being rigidly secured at its other end to theinner surface of the lower portion of the tube 10,

similar parts (so that the stop member may 'move freely inwardly to the position indicated in dotted lines in Eig. 3 to its wick stopping position, when the :burner is mounted on the reservoir. The relation of "the wick and the parts carried thereby, aswellas the'relation of the stop member to the slug on the carrier tube :of the wick, are more clearly. shown inFig. 6 which also illustrates the manner of preventing extreme upward movement of the :wick by the enlargement on the lower end Of'ithe rack bar to prevent further relative unovement t betwe'en the'rack bar and the spur gear-31.-

.As s'hown in Figs; 1 and 2, thecarrier tube 29 is provided at spaced intervals :around its-circumference with axially-disposed spacing bars 31 to maintain uniform Spacing between the carrier tube 29 and the outer wick tube It, to insure proper meshing iof athe :spur gear 3| with the rack bar 30.

While we have shown our invention in the paroutside of said carrier tube, a spur gear substantially in a vertical plane tangent to the outer 1 surface of said carrier tube and meshing with the gear teeth of said rack bar, a horizontally disposed operating shaft carried by and extending radially of said wick tubes through said outer wick tube and rigidly secured at its inner end in said spur gear, and a guide member carried by said outer wick tube and engaging the upper edge of said rack bar and holding said rack bar in mesh with said spur gear, said outer wick tube being of enlarged diameter at its lower portion and wholly containing said rack bar and said spur gear between said outer wick tube and said wick, whereby turning said operating shaft imparts both axial and angular movement to said wick relatively to said wick tubes.

2. A burner for heating stoves including a tubular wick and inner and outer wick tubes, a cylindrical carrier tube of thin sheet metal secured to the outer surface of said wick, a helical rack bar of substantial thickness secured to and extending radially outwardly from said carrier tube, said rack bar having gear teeth in helical arrangement in its lower edge and located entirely outside of said carrier tube, a spur gear substantially in a vertical plane tangent to the outer surface of said carrier tube and meshing with the gear teeth of said rack bar, a horizontally disposed operating shaft carried by and extending radially of said wick tubes through said outer wick tube and rigidly secured at its inner end to said spur gear, a guide member carried by said outer wick tube and engaging the upper edge of said rack bar and holding said rack bar in mesh with said spur gear, said outer wick tube being of enlarged diameter at its lower portion and wholly containing said rack bar and said spur gear between said outer Wick tube and said wick, whereby turning said operating shaft imparts both axial and angular movement to said wick relatively to said :wick tubes, said burner :being adapted for mounting on .a fuel reservoir, and stop mechanism controlled by said reservoir and carried day said wick :and limiting downward movement of the wick with the burner mounted on a fuel reservoir and freeing the wick for continued downward movement with the burner re- :moved from said reservoir.

3*,1A burner .for heating stoves including :a tubular wick and coaxial inner and outer vertical wick tubes closely adjacent said wick at the :upper end portion thereof, said :outer wick tube below its upper portion having an enlarged diameter forming a cylindrical clearance space between said tube and said wick, a carrier'tube *of thin sheet metal "secured to the outer surface 10f said wick, :a helical rack bar secured to said carrier tube :and' having a cylindrical inner :surface .fitting said carrier tube and a cylindrical outer surface parallel with and closely adjacent Ethe inner surface of the lower portion of said outer wick tube, said rack bar having parallel upper and lower edges and gear teeth in .said .loweredge extending radially of said carrier tube from said carrier tube to closely adjacent the inner surface of the lower portion of said outer wick tube, a horizontal operating shaft extending perpendicularly through said outer wick tube with its inner end insaid clearance-space in said outer wick tube below said rack bar, the axis of :said shaft extending radially of said wick tubes and perpendicularly through the axis of said wick tubes, a spur gear in said clearance space and secured to the inner end of said shaft in mesh with the gear teeth on said rack bar, said spur gear having its end faces respectively adjacent said carrier tube and said outer wick tube,

and a guide member carried by and extending from said outer wick tube adjacent the upper edge of said rack bar and holding said rack bar and said spur gear in mesh with each other.

4. A burner for heating stoves including a tubular wick and coaxial inner and outer vertical wick tubes closely adjacent said wick at the upper end portion thereof, said outer wick tube below its upper portion having an enlarged diameter forming a cylindrical clearance space between said tube and said wick, a carrier tube of thin sheet metal secured to the outer surface of said wick, a helical rack bar secured to said carrier tube and having a cylindrical inner surface fitting said carrier tube and a cylindrical outer surface parallel with and closely adjacent the inner surface of the lower portion of said outer wick tube, said rack bar having parallel upper and lower edges and gear teeth in said lower edge extending radially of said carrier tube from said carrier tube to closely adjacent the inner surface of the lower portion of said outer wick tube, a horizontal operating shaft extending perpendicularly through said outer wick tube with its inner end in said clearance space in said outer wick tube below said rack bar, the axis of said shaft extending radially of said wick tubes and perpendicularly through the axis of said wick tubes, a spur gear in said clearance space and secured to the inner end of said shaft in mesh with the gear teeth on said rack bar, said spur gear having its end faces respectively adjacent said carrier tube and said outer wick tube, a guide member carried by and extending from said outer wick tube adjacent the upper edge of said rack bar and holding said rack bar and said spur gear in mesh with each other,

and axially disposed spacing bars secured to said carrier tube at angularly spaced intervals and extending to adjacent the inner surface of the lower portion of said outer wick tube, thereby maintaining a substantially uniform spacing between said carrier tube and the inner surface of the lower portion .of said outer wick tube.

5. A burner for heating stoves including a tubular wick and coaxial inner and outer vertical wick tubes closely adjacent said wick at the upper end portion thereof, said outer wick tube below its upper portion having an enlarged diameter forming a cylindrical clearance space between said tube and said wick, a carrier tube of thin sheet metal secured to the outer surface of said wick, a helical rack bar secured to said carrier tube and having a cylindrical inner surface fitting said carrier tube and a cylindrical outer surface parallel with and closely adjacent the inner surface of the lower portion of said outer wick tube, said rack bar having parallel upper and lower edges and gear teeth in said lower edge extending radially of said carrier tube from said carrier tube to closely adjacent the inner surface of the lower portion of said outer wick tube, a horizontal operating shaft extending perpendicularly through said outer wick tube with its inner end in said clearance space in said outer wick tube below said rack bar, the axis of said shaft extending radially of said wick tubes and perpendicularly through the axis of said wick tubes, a spur gear in said clearance space and secured to the inner end of said shaft in mesh with the gear teeth on said rack bar, said spur gear having its end faces respectively adjacent said carrier tube and said outer wick tube, a guide member carried by and extending from said outer Wick tube adjacent the upper edge of said rack bar and holding said rack bar and said spur gear in mesh with each other, said burner being adapted for mounting on a fuel reservoir, and stop mechanism controlled by said reservoir and carried by said wick and limiting downward movement of said wick with the burner on the reservoir and freeing said wick for continued downward movement with the burner removed from the reservoir.

WALTER B. ENGH. CORTLAND W. DAVIS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

